Glossing over history: Exhibition about founder of Northern Territory police force under attack

Updated
Tue Mar 04 11:13:54 EST 2014

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Dark side: History expert Tony Roberts says that if Paul Foelsche was alive today, he would be prosecuted by the United Nations for crimes against humanity.

Source: NT Library

An exhibition about the life of Paul Foelsche, the founder of the Northern Territory Police Force, is under attack for failing to describe his role in the killing of Aboriginal people.

History expert Tony Roberts won the Chief Minister's Award for his book Frontier Justice in 2006 and says the exhibition in the Territory parliament house library glosses over what he describes as Foelsche's criminal behaviour.

"Foelsch masterminded and orchestrated massacres of innocent Aboriginal people in the northern half of the Territory for 30 years," he said.

"If he were alive today, Paul Foelsche would be prosecuted by the United Nations for crimes against humanity."

Mr Roberts says the library should apologise for the omission and install a wall panel with quotes from reputable historians about the dark side of Paul Foelsche.

Darwin's Freemasons Lodge (Foelsche Lodge) this year celebrated the centenary of his death and helped put the exhibition together.

The library's Emma Darby says the omission was not deliberate.

"There is a panel in the exhibition which refers to the police involvement in punitive expeditions," she said.

She says the current exhibition is a small one and the focus is on Foelsch's photographic work.

"It is just highlighting areas of his life which we thought the public would be interested in learning about," she said.

Attorney-General John Elferink says he is not going to get involved in any debate about the content of the Paul Foelsche exhibition.

"What I do know is that the original police commissioner, Inspector Foelsche, for the Northern Territory of South Australia, did a lot of good in the community," he said.

"I will leave the history wars for the history war buffs."

From Prussian cavalry to SA mounted trooper

A German national, Foelsche enlisted in the Prussian cavalry at age 17.

In 1854, he left Hamburg for Australia.

In 1856, he joined the South Australian mounted police as a trooper.

Promoted through the ranks, he was posted to Palmerston (now Darwin) in 1869 when South Australia administered the Territory.

On arrival, he found there was no police station.

He and six troopers built one.

His immediate superior was a police inspector in Adelaide but he also reported to the government resident at Palmerston.

Foelsche was an avid photographer and his pictures captured many images of life in the Territory.